Hmm. Do they seriously only give you one rune, even if maxed out?
That's the issue I have with it, at least the Enchantment Hireling---the only one I've been using.

Provisioning hirelings are very useful because the two epic (purple) ingredients in game can only be found by hirelings sending them to you, or by doing provisioning writs.

The equipment hirelings are not as good as they used to be. They made the chance for rare improvement materials lower, and buffed the chance for getting those rare improvement materials from crafting writs.

If you don't do crafting writs, they could definitely be a good thing - but yes, aren't as good as they used to be. As well, if you don't tend to harvest your own material - they can be a good supply of mats.

IMO I think they're still a good plan. Especially provisioning.

MissBizz wrote: »

Provisioning hirelings are very useful because the two epic (purple) ingredients in game can only be found by hirelings sending them to you, or by doing provisioning writs.

The equipment hirelings are not as good as they used to be. They made the chance for rare improvement materials lower, and buffed the chance for getting those rare improvement materials from crafting writs.

If you don't do crafting writs, they could definitely be a good thing - but yes, aren't as good as they used to be. As well, if you don't tend to harvest your own material - they can be a good supply of mats.

IMO I think they're still a good plan. Especially provisioning.

All good information to know. I'll tell my buddy about the Prov-Writs.
He's in charge of the food. Haha.

I'm doing Cloth, Enchant, and Woodwork.

Dinobot wrote: »

HabOh wrote: »

Hmm. Do they seriously only give you one rune, even if maxed out?
That's the issue I have with it, at least the Enchantment Hireling---the only one I've been using.

No, they will give you more than that it's just I don't remember what else I recived yesterday.

Hmm. I'll consider it, maybe I'll dump some more points into that then.

I don't have all hirelings on all alts, so for me, what I get in a particular day is not as good as for those that have them maxed out on all characters.

I will say, that since the Great Hireling Nerf, I've received maybe two Kutas from my lvl 3 Enchanter Hireling. I used to receive at least 3 or 4 in a given week. Now, I rejoice if I get a Rekuta! Also, prior to the nerf, my hireling would only on extremely rare occasions, send me a mail with only 2 runes instead of the usual three. That now happens more frequently, and it's usually the Aspect rune that is left off. I also get way more Tas and Jejotas than I used to.

But, I will say that it's still good to have, as you'll always get a Potency rune, which is useful if you're doing the writs.

I got rid of my Provisioner Hireling since I have 200 of all provisioning mats, including the purples, and I found that I got a higher chance of getting purples from the writs than from the hireling.

Equipment hirelings are always useful for the raw mats you get from them everyday. Of course, it's always discouraging to open a Lvl 3 hireling mail only to discover that all you got was 5 of the ore. That's rare, but my usual haul is the ore plus a trait or style stone. I very rarely see any tempers above green/blue. And, again, since the nerf, I think I've only received one or two golds. In fact, most of the golds I have in my inventory were from my hirelings prior to 1.6. I very rarely, if ever, get golds from the hirelings, and have only received a very few from refining.

I would recommend that, until you have enough points to spare, I'd only put points in hirelings for the crafts your character/alts are actually doing.

Also keep in mind - the material hirelings (and possibly the enchanting, although I never paid attention) will send you the highest level mat available for that characters crafting level.

Example:
You have 1/9 points put into metalworking - you will receive iron ore
You have 2/9 points into metalworking - you will receive high iron ore (refines into steel ingot)

No matter what level you have the chance to receive style stones, improvement materials, and any good that are not meant towards a specific level.

There's also a passive to increase your chances of getting the "good stuff" (epic/legendary improvement materials, kuta etc) - which afterwards you can put yet another skill point and get 2 hireling mails per day.

I know they have changed lots over time though, @SirAndy do you know if for SURE hirelings still send you the mats for the highest item level stuff you can craft? As I recall character level is not a factor. I just would had to spread misinformation when I'm just trying to help Been awhile since I used hirelings during levelling crafts

I just added a point into one of these hirelings, and I wanted to know: how do you receive the items, in the mail or straight into your inventory?

If it's straight into your inventory, how do you know what you received? With the crafting writ supply rewards, I can never tell what I received.

Mord-Maus wrote: »

I just added a point into one of these hirelings, and I wanted to know: how do you receive the items, in the mail or straight into your inventory?

If it's straight into your inventory, how do you know what you received? With the crafting writ supply rewards, I can never tell what I received.

As well, you don't get them once a day no matter what.. you have to log into that specific character. Let's say you pick it up at 6pm. The next day.. you log onto that character and pick it up at 6:15. The day after, you log in at 6pm.. the mail won't be in yet. You need to log in at 6:15 or just after to grab it. Eventually it gets later and later so you may miss a day. If you're online playing during the time, it comes as normal mail, and may be late.. so if you know exactly when you get the mail, make a note and use a wayshrine (or log out/in) at the time your expecting it to force your mail to come through

[EDIT] Me no spell good.

HabOh wrote: »

Ack. I knew something was fishy with the delivery time. It's so contrived! It should be on a normal in-game timer like when the Outlaws reset their shop.

A lot of us have been asking for either that, or for it to be a 20 hour timer like mount training, instead of the 24 hour timer it is currently (or, if you've got 3 skill points in the passive, a 10 hour timer instead of 12). We've been asking for that for over a year.

The problem with the current system is that it's entirely impossible to not fall behind a little each day. For those of us with jobs, and who actually dare to sleep, it's impossible to not end up falling behind by a big chunk every now and then too. But I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look at the current system and not agree that it would be better and more fair if it was changed.

UrQuan wrote: »

For those of us with jobs, and who actually dare to sleep, it's impossible to not end up falling behind by a big chunk every now and then too. But I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look at the current system and not agree that it would be better and more fair if it was changed.

Mmhmm! I love this game but I'm not trying to sink my every waking second to it.
I definitely don't want to do all that Alt business either.

I just wanted some runes.

newtinmpls wrote: »

I figure the more I stress about it, the less fun it is, and I play this game for fun (or at least intend to). When get too crunchy about 'fair' and 'when' and all that ... it's much less fun.

Yeah, all this talk of Alts and what not nearly scared me off. This is the sort of tedium I don't care for.
I want leisure, not a second job. Haha.

UrQuan wrote: »

HabOh wrote: »

Ack. I knew something was fishy with the delivery time. It's so contrived! It should be on a normal in-game timer like when the Outlaws reset their shop.

A lot of us have been asking for either that, or for it to be a 20 hour timer like mount training, instead of the 24 hour timer it is currently (or, if you've got 3 skill points in the passive, a 10 hour timer instead of 12). We've been asking for that for over a year.

The problem with the current system is that it's entirely impossible to not fall behind a little each day. For those of us with jobs, and who actually dare to sleep, it's impossible to not end up falling behind by a big chunk every now and then too. But I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look at the current system and not agree that it would be better and more fair if it was changed.

i would not like to log twice a day. i like your proposal, but i will prefer to do not log at all. i mean, i spent the skill on alt and i would not waste my time just to activate the mailing system. my hireling is suppose to send me stuff once a day, from what i read, so i don't see the necessity to log once a day. is just some annoying thing that make the game boring.

FireflyNeph wrote: »

Another option is doing writs every day. They can get you some good things, as well. Some players argue they're not worth it because it's more resources spent than received, but really it's not going to pay off every single time. It's a given. But it's a little more experience than you would have gotten elsewise and you have the chance for something really good. Personally, I have hirelings AND I do writs every day. Gives me xp I wouldn't have gotten and an opportunity for something higher level.

It depends on the type of writ. Consumables writs are worth doing, as even before you factor in the gold you get for turning in the writ they all give you more back than you put into the writ (although only barely with Enchanting writs, and only when you factor in the surveys you get every now and then, and the occasional Kuta writ reward). Equipment writs, on the other hand, are only worth doing if you happen to have a surplus of materials that you would only vendor anyway, or if you have a source of materials where you can buy the amount you'll need for the writ for less than the gold you'll get for turning the writ in.

Basically, in order from most profitable to least, the writs go:

1. Provisioning (you get waaaaay more out of a provisioning writ than you put into it, and now there's even a chance for an XP drink recipe fragment)
2. Alchemy (you get significantly more out of an alchemy writ than you put into it, even before considering the chance of getting an alchemy survey)
3. Enchanting (as discussed above, you get just barely more out of it than you put in, but only when you take into account the occasional survey and kutas)
4. Equipment writs (I think the 3 equipment writs are pretty much tied for the last spot)

Of course, that assumes that your crafting skill is already maxed out or you don't care about leveling it further on that character. If you do care about advancing the crafting skill, then the inspiration that you get for completed writs should be factored in when deciding if a writ is worth doing.

@Cogo I agree that the hireling mails are a great part of the game. Some of them were so cute I saved them (screenshotted them).

@UrQuan I agree that most of the time the crafting writs are not worth it (especially when you get ornate as the trait on your item back). On the other hand, sometimes for me it can come down to I want to play so-and-so and don't have time to do much, so I like to be "doing something" that will net me a few XP and some cash. I also have a couple of characters that are very dedicated to their particular craft, so on occasion it's an RP thing.

Mostly I do it if its fun, and if its not .... or I don't have time for a while (right now I'm studying for an NP exam ... so not much play time. I'm on the forums here at lunch/ at work) anyway lately not much more playing than a writ or to. So I get my ESO 'fix' that way.

The Provisioner Hireling should give Perfect Roe.

personally finding the hireling quite handy, that being said getting materials in general -at the moment- isn't very difficult, neither is leveling up my blacksmithing. Though I am 2/3 with the hireling now, I will be going for 3/3 once I reach that rank